Krebs on Security

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Posts Tagged: ps2 skimmer

Scam artists who deploy credit and debit card skimmers most often target ATMs, yet thieves can also use inexpensive, store-bought skimming devices to compromise modern-day cash registers. Just this past weekend, for instance, department store chain Nordstrom said it found a half-dozen of these skimmers affixed to registers at a store in Florida.

The fraud devices in this case resemble small keyloggers that are sold by dozens of stores for approximately $30 to $40 apiece. These hardware keyloggers are essentially Ps/2 connectors that are about an inch in length. The tiny data storage devices are usually purple in color to match the color-coded standard for keyboards, and are made to be inserted between the male end of a PS/2 keyboard connector and the female receptor on a computer.

Skimming devices found on six registers at a Nordstrom department store in Florida last week.

According to an alert circulated by the police department in Aventura, Florida, on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013, three male subjects were captured on closed-circuit cameras at Nordstrom tampering with registers in the store. Authorities there say the footage showed two of the men worked to distract sales staff, while the third took pictures of the register and removed the rear access panel to the register and took additional photographs.

Several hours later, three different males returned to the store and performed the same routine: Two of them again distracted sales staff while the third male removed the back panel to the register and installed the above pictured device. The Aventura Police Department said Nordstrom located a total of six devices attached to their registers.